44 ️ ️ ️ ÉPILOGUE
Part 44
Epilogue
1 year later
“What are you doing, Trent?” I asked my husband as he stood in front of the wall trying to put a picture up.
“This,” he replied before stepping aside, revealing his handiwork.
I gasped when I saw my face in the large picture frame. This picture was taken on our wedding day. One side of my face was resting right over Trent’s heart, while he had his arms wrapped around me in a way that looked as if he never wanted to let me go.
“This is one of my favorite pictures. How come I didn’t notice someone taking our pictures?” I asked out loud, even though the question was mostly directed at myself.
“You were too eager to become mine to notice anything else. Everything happened too quickly, we didn’t even meet all the guests,” Trent replied, picking up the hammer and the box of nails and placing it in the toolbox.
“You’re right,” I agreed, recalling how quickly I wanted to get married to Trent because I did not want Tamara or any other woman to take him. Even though Trent knew how much I loved him, it felt nice to know that he loved me back just as much if not more.
“This is my favorite picture as well, so I decided to hang it on the wall for everyone to see,” Trent said, glancing at the sleeping baby on the sofa with a bunch of cushions surrounding her, preventing her from falling.
“You could’ve just called someone to hang the picture, why did you do it yourself?” I questioned, following his line of sight. Adelinda was still asleep, well she slept most of the times, but I couldn’t help checking on her every fifteen minutes.
“No, I wanted to do it,” he replied, a soft smile gracing his lips; the smile that always appeared whenever he looked at our daughter. “When is she going to wake up?”
“Soon. You’ll know when she will start to cry, and tell me to feed her.” I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t help my heart swelling with love for my daughter. She was the most beautiful thing that happened to me, and I could never replace her with anything. Even though she stayed awake at night and forced Trent and I to stay awake as well, there was nothing I wouldn’t do for her.
With a kiss on my lips, Trent went over to where Adelinda lay sleeping. Setting the cushions aside, he sat down on the sofa and picked her up. After caressing her pink, chubby cheek, Trent kissed her, soft and sweet. It was just a natural thing for a father to love his daughter, and yet, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed everytime I saw Trent with Adelinda. He loved her so much, it was shimmering in his eyes.
“She is a stubborn fighter,” Trent commented, affection dripping from every word.
“Yes, I know. She gave me a pretty hard time when it was time for her to be born,” I agreed. Adelinda put up quite a fight on the day that she was born. The doctors had no choice but to perform a C-section to get her out. And since that day, Trent called her his stubborn fighter.
Trent’s phone started ringing just as Adelinda woke up, crying. Quickly handing me the baby, Trent answered the call before walking into a corner to talk. I unbuttoned my blouse, and begun feeding Adelinda, stroking the small amount of dark hair on her head. I glanced at my husband every now and then, watching the way he held himself while he conducted business.
It was strange how quickly time passed. There was a time when I hated Trent with all my heart, and now I couldn’t imagine living twenty four hours without him. Trent had burrowed deep in my heart, and I couldn’t get him out, not that I wanted to. I thought I would never get my happy ending, but Trent proved me wrong, just like he proved me wrong about my feelings for him.
With a smile, I glanced at my daughter who was busy suckling, her tiny hand resting on my chest. Adelinda had the same dark eyes and hair that ran in the Benson family, but she inherited the rest of her features from me; at least that’s what Trent observed.
After a while, Trent hung up and came to stand right in front of me. At the same time, I pulled Adelinda away, and begun rubbing her back slowly.
“That was Jordan. He is coming over right now. He has something to tell us,” Trent informed me.
“Sure. Is everything all right?” I asked. Judging by the grim expression on Trent’s face, I didn’t think Jordan was coming here to give us good news.
“I don’t know. He will tell you when he gets here,” he answered.
“No, tell me right now. What happened? Is everybody okay? Are your parents okay?” I enquired, my heart beginning to get heavy with anxiety.
“Yes, yes, everybody’s fine. My parents are fine. It’s just that…Jordan did something…something he shouldn’t have and now he has no choice but to suffer the consequences,” Trent responded.
“Okay, now you’re starting to scare me. Just tell me, what did he do?” I hated everytime Trent tried to be cryptic with me, it’s like he enjoyed scaring me.
The door bell rang and Trent heaved an audible sigh. “That’s him. He came pretty quickly.” Trent went to answer the door, leaving me with our daughter. After a few seconds, Trent returned followed by his brother who looked like he hadn’t eaten anything since two days.
“Jordan, hello,” I greeted him as I stood up.
“Hello Amanda.” Jordan forced a smile. “How are you? And how is my niece?”
“Good. Good. Sit down. Would you like to eat or drink anything?” I asked.
“Not right now, thanks. Maybe after a while or so,” he replied before plopping down on the couch. Jordan looked exhausted, I wonder what happened. Trent sat down beside him.
“Alright, so what’s wrong?” I decided not to beat around the bush. Something terrible was bothering Jordan and I wanted to help him.
Jordan was silent for a few seconds before he exhaled deeply. “I made a mistake…well not a mistake…or maybe it is, I don’t know…”
I glanced at Trent before levelling my gaze with Jordan’s. “What is it? What did you do?”
“I-Look don’t hate me, okay? I didn’t mean for any of this to happen…it just did.”
“Jordan, tell me what you did,” I said with as much as force as I could muster without sounding like a bitch.
“Trent, you tell her. I can’t-”
“He got Madigan pregnant,” Trent stated.
For a second I just stayed silent, not believing what Trent just said. And then it slowly started to sink in; the reality of what Jordan did. He got Madigan pregnant. The sweet, happy Madigan who did her best to make the camera love me. But then why was he so upset about it? And why did he say that he made a mistake?
“Madigan as in my photographer Madigan?” I asked just to be sure we were thinking of the same person.
“Yes, the same one,” Jordan replied, his face buried in his hands.
“And I take it you didn’t want her to get pregnant?”
“Of course I don’t. I mean…I don’t even like her, she was just a one night stand…” Jordan trailed off.
“You should’ve been more careful,” I chided, wondering how Madigan would be feeling right now.
“We were, I wore a condom. It must’ve broken or something, and now she is pregnant with my baby.” He told us.
“And when did you get to know this?” I enquired, Adelinda still in my arms.
“Last night. Madigan came in my office and told me. I wasn’t even able to sleep last night,” Jordan replied.
“She could be lying,” Trent suggested. “I mean, Madigan doesn’t look like the type to lie about such things, but it could be possible.”
Jordan shook his head. “No, she is not lying. I know the baby is mine, I know it in my heart.”
“What did you say to her when she told you?” I questioned.
“I said, I never wanted any of this and stormed out of my office, leaving her all alone. I’m such an asshole,” he responded.
“Oh God.” I couldn’t help myself. What would that poor girl be feeling right now. She would be so scared and alone. Fuck.
“You need to be with her, at least do it for your baby even if you don’t love her,” I said.
“But I can’t. I’m not ready for a baby, and I don’t want to be with a woman who I don’t love. That won’t be fair to her,” he argued.
“Well it happened and now you have to face the consequences. You have be there for Madigan, you can’t leave her like this. She does not deserve that and neither does your baby,” Trent stated.
“I know. God, I know, but I don’t know if I can face her after walking out on her like this,” Jordan said.
“You’ll be fine. Madigan is a great woman and she will forgive you. But don’t leave her like this, Jordan. You know what dad says about being a man,” Trent replied.
Jordan nodded. “Yeah. I know. But I don’t know, Trent…this is scary. I’m not ready to be a father.”
“Well I don’t think nature is giving you much of a choice now. You are going to be a father, whether you like it or not.” Trent gazed at Adelinda who was squriming in my hold.
“Can I hold her?” Jordan asked.
“Of course.” I went over to where he was sitting and handed Adelinda over to him. “Try walking around with her, otherwise she is going to cry.”
“Great, it’s only been three and half months since she’s been born and she is already spoiled,” Jordan commented.
“Blame her father.” I pointed at Trent, who eyed his daughter with pride.
“She is my princess, of course I am going to spoil her,” he defended.
“I’ll go get something for you to eat.” With a smile I strode into the kitchen and begun preparing snacks for Jordan. But I couldn’t stop worrying about Madigan. She was so young and now, just because of one mistake, her whole future might just go down the drain. Raising a baby was not an easy task; I mean, I was still learning, and most of the people kept learning throughout their lives, and she was so young.
Trent popped his head in the kitchen with my cell phone in his hand. “Madigan is calling you,” he said before handing the phone to me and walking away.
I quickly accepted the call. “Hi Madigan, how are you?” I asked.
“Hello, Amanda. I’m fine, thank you. Uh, listen, I know this might not be appropriate with me being your photographer and all…but…I was wondering if you could meet me tomorrow, have lunch with me,” she said.
Her voice sounded normal, but I knew better. Madigan was trying to be strong. “Of course, I’d love to have lunch with you. Just tell me when and where to pick you up and we’ll go,” I replied.
“You don’t have to pick me up.”
“Nonsense, just tell me when to pick you up,” I stated. Madigan did not have friends as far as I knew, so I was going to help her. I didn’t know what Jordan was going to decide, but whatever it was, I would help Madigan.
“Uh alright, thank you. I’ll text you my address and you can pick me up at one,” she responded.
“All right, see you then. Bye. Take care.” I hung up. Just as I put the phone on the counter, Trent returned.
“Jordan just left,” he informed me.
“What? Why so soon, I was just preparing snacks for him.”
“Yeah, he said he couldn’t stay. Anyways, what did Madigan want to talk about?” Trent asked.
“She wants to have lunch with me tomorrow. I said I’ll pick her up.” I told him.
Trent quickly pulled me in his arms. “Alright, ask her if she needs any kind of help. And give her some money as well, her financial status is not that great, and she needs money for her vitamins and all.”
“Yeah okay, where is Adelinda?” I searched around for my daughter, only to spot her lying on the sofa with cushions surrounding her.
“Jordan put her to sleep. And it’s about time you give me your attention.” He kissed me slow and deep and as much as I wanted to sink into the kiss, I couldn’t. Worry for Jordan and Madigan kept poking at my brain.
“I’m sorry, Trent, but I can’t help but worry about Madigan and Jordan. What do you think he’s going to do?” I asked.
“He is going to do what is right, because if he doesn’t do what is right then dad is going to kill him…and so will I,” he answered, resting his hand on my head.
“Yes, but he doesn’t love her,” I argued.
“The baby is important, not their feelings towards each other. And besides, Jordan must feel something for Madigan, otherwise he wouldn’t have had a one night stand with her,” Trent countered.
“You think so?” I hope whatever happened next would be good for the both of them.
“I know so. Jordan is going to choose the baby, even though he is scared shitless; he is going to own up to his mistakes or actions, whatever it is. Don’t worry about it,” Trent said, the last words were more like an order.
“I’ll try.” I hugged him tight, relishing in the feel of his muscular arms around me.
“When are Harry and April coming over for lunch?” Trent queried.
“Uh I don’t know, maybe on Saturday. I’ll call April to confirm. Why?” I replied.
“Nothing, just asking. It’s nice to see other people as happy as I am with you. You really are the reason for my happiness, bumblebee. You and our precious daughter,” he stated
My cheeks heated as my heart pumped happiness through every cell of my body. “Yes, you’re right. You know I never thought that out of all the people on the planet, it would be you who would own my heart.”Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.
“I know, you made that pretty clear with all the times you told me you hated me.” He chuckled, the sound causing his chest to vibrate.
“Well you gave me plenty of reasons to hate you,” I justified.
“I couldn’t help myself. I love pushing your buttons, riling you up. It told me how much I affected you, and I used that to my advantage,” he said.
“Yes, and you made me fall for you.” I pecked his lips.
“And now you have to face the consequences,” he said.
“Yeah, you make me pay for falling in love with you…by fucking my brains out day and night.” To be honest, I loved whenever Trent fucked me, it was like he wanted to imprint himself on my soul.
“Shady, I will make you pay for that everyday for the rest of our lives.” And with those words, he sealed my lips in a passionate kiss, letting me know exactly how much he loved me.
The End